Blog
A Sneak Peek at DC Direct and MAD’s “Just-Us League of Stupid Heroes”
MAD’s own gap-toothed grinning idiot mascot Alfred E. Neuman once again dons the cape…and the cowl…and the bustier…and the rubber ducky inner tube to transform himself into some of our favorite superheroes in a new line of collectible figures from DC Direct! They'll be available April 4, 2012, so start saving your nickels!
Preview of MAD's 'The Walking Dead' Satire
Last week, we asked readers of The Idiotical to guess what Hermann Mejia is working on for MAD #512. "c0ur7n3y" was the first commenter to get it right: Hermann's illustrating our spoof of smash-hit zombie smashfest, The Walking Dead! (It's written by Desmond Devlin, so you know it's going to be great.)
Today, we bring you Hermann's finished art for the opening splash. Wait until you see the rest of it! Half-eaten brains have never looked so beautiful.
Now...can you guess the title of our spoof? Oops, we already told you! It's called "The Walking Dud". Zing!
Artist: Hermann Mejia
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and the Toy Industry
Yesterday’s repeal of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy made it possible for openly gay people to serve in the military. It was an historic day and reminded us of another historic day in gay military history, which we commemorated back in September 1993, MAD #321.
The MAD Strip Club — Fantabulaman: Doctor Disaster
STRIPS TEASED DEPT.
Look! Up on the roof deck, sipping an iced tea! It's Fantabulaman by Ted Rall! 
MAD Writer Wins Emmy, Slide in TV Standards Continues
Tim Carvell is a very funny fellow. Not only does he write MAD’s ongoing feature, Planet Tad, (soon to be a major book from Harper Collins) but he also has a day job as head writer for The Daily Show. Last night at the 2011 Prime Time Emmy Awards our boy Tim was on full display accepting the Emmy for Best Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Series. (That’s Tim holding the Emmy and waving.) We here at MAD are extremely happy for Tim and his success — just so long as he doesn’t demand his own dressing room in the MAD offices or insist that Tad become a 10 page feature now that he’s gone all Hollywood!
Modern Family -- Emmy Winner, MAD Satire Loser!
Modern Family was the big winner in last night’s Emmy telecast, collecting five awards. But we’ll see how long their euphoria lasts once they realize we’ve posted the opening splash from our spoof of their little show. Written by Arnie Kogen and illustrated by Tom Richmond, the takeoff originally appeared in MAD #509. And for those of you who are about to comment and say we’re only doing this so we can be associated with a winner – good call! Those opportunities are rare at MAD, and when they present themselves, we pounce!
Celebrity Snaps: Two and a Half Men
Winning? More like wincing.
MAD’s Buttons and Pins Cleanup!
We’re still cleaning up our stockroom! Today we found pins — lots of pins that we thought you might like to see. This first photo has some of the rarest.
Here's the story on them:
The white cloisonné pin with the red logo was one of several pins given away as a premium if you subscribed to MAD in the 1980s. Other pins in the subscription giveaway were the two featuring Spy vs. Spy, the MAD Zeppelin, Arthur the Plant, Flip the Bird and the black and white Alfred pin.
The blue cloisonné pin with the yellow MAD logo was a “staff and freelancers only” pin Annie Gaines had made during the same time.
The 14k gold logo pin in the upper right was a “staff only” pin Bill Gaines commissioned in either the '60s or '70s and is quite rare.
The small Spy pin (second row down, on the far right) was a mistake (too small) and very few, if any, went out to subscribers.
The football helmet and the gold Alfred head were pins that the pin salesman, Brian Fitterman, had made just for fun. The Alfred is very rare, the football helmet less so.
Over the years, several pins were commissioned to be given away at San Diego Comic-Con, among them the yellow Alfred head, the red logo, the square Alfred and Spy pins and the small "Vote Alfred" pin.
The large "Alfred for President" pin was made to promote the pop-up book, MAD About Politics, while the "WOOF" pin was made to promote the book Bo Confidential.
The rectangular "Alfred for President" pin (second row, left) is an original from the first "Alfred E. Neuman for President" kit which was sold in the magazine in 1960. It is also somewhat rare.
Before there were cloisonné pins, there were traditional buttons. The next photo is a complete set of all the different buttons made as premiums for subscribing to MAD.
How many of all these do you have? Which are your favorites? If you could only possess one, which one would you choose? Let us know in the comments because…you never know! (Hint: Don’t pick the 14k gold one!)
More Nude Celebrity Photos from Hacked Phones
This week, Scarlett Johansson became the latest celebrity to have her cell phone hacked and private nude photos of her leaked on the internet. As it turns out, the Johansson case is but the tip of the iceberg. Dozens of other celebrities have had their phone hacked, but the hackers have had the decency not to leak the photos obtained. Until now.
Editor’s Note: At the time of this posting, The Idiotical was unable to independently verify that these photos are real and not simply the work of a sick, twisted individual with Photoshop.